Nosara & the south · Costa Rica
Surfing Ostional
A beach break in Nosara & the south, Costa Rica, for beginner and intermediate surfers.
Ostional is a long, quiet beach north of Nosara with easy beach-break peaks and few surfers. It works on a south-west swell at most tides and suits beginners and improvers.
The beach is a wildlife refuge, best known for the arribadas, when thousands of olive ridley turtles come ashore to nest at certain times of year, and there's very little building. As along the rest of this coast, don't leave valuables on the beach.
The dry season, from December to April, brings clean conditions and offshore mornings. Nosara, about twenty minutes south, has the places to stay and eat.
When to surf
Ostional
Ostional is at its best from December to April. Conditions it likes: Swell SW.
December to April: Prime
Dry season, offshore mornings, sunshine, clean NW-fed 3-4ft waves almost daily
May to July: Good
Green season begins; bigger SW groundswell, afternoon showers, fewer crowds
August to October: Good
Peak SW swell and empty line-ups, but the wettest, muddiest roads
Nov: Quiet
Transition, rains easing, swell easing, a quiet shoulder month
The year across Guanacaste
Waves near Ostional
Nosara (Playa Guiones N)
5 kmNosara & the south · Beach Break · Beginner
Playa Guiones
10 kmNosara & the south · Beach Break · Beginner / Intermediate
Playa Negra
24 kmNosara & the south · Right Reef · Intermediate / Advanced
Straight-line distances. By road it is usually further.
Getting there
Where to stay: Base around Playa Guiones for the most consistent beachbreak, schools and cafés; Playa Negra puts you on the reef but is a bumpy drive south. This whole coast suffers petty theft, never leave anything on the beach or visible in a car.
Transport, costs, where to stay and the rest of the waves in the area are in the Nosara & the south guide.
Nosara & the south surf guideSurf it often and something here is wrong? Tell us and we will fix it.